Organization investigates sexual misconduct allegations against director

An organization that investigates reports of sexual misconduct within U.S. Olympics programs is checking into allegations against the head of Tamaqua’s board of school directors.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport, based out of Denver, Colorado, in February opened an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Tamaqua Area School Board President Larry Wittig.

Wittig is listed by the center as being on interim suspension because of his membership with the Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia. “That rowing club is a USA Rowing facility,” Dan Hill, SafeSport spokesman, explained.

Contacted Thursday afternoon, Wittig said, “The suspension is temporary.”

“What happened was one person in the membership wanted me ostracized from the boat club,” Wittig said. “They made a motion at a board meeting to suspend me and there was no second. The boat club’s membership is behind me 100 percent.”

Wittig said they contacted SafeSport, “and they suspended me from Vesper Boat Club.”

After a Philadelphia Inquirer article broke in December, Wittig admitted to the Times News that he had sex with a student when he was coaching the rowing team at the University of Pennsylvania more than 30 years ago.

“It was a ‘lapse in judgment,’ “ Wittig said.

His accuser, Annette DeMichele, said it was consensual at the time, but now, looking back, she felt she was unduly influenced by him. DeMichele was not on the team he was coaching.

After the article was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wittig resigned from his position as chairman of the state board of education, but said his position in Tamaqua would be determined by his fellow board members.

Another article about the situation was published in the Inquirer in early March, bringing attention to the fact that he has not resigned.

That drew 50 people to attend last month’s school board meeting to discuss the allegations against Wittig.

He said that the state board of education is an appointed position from which he resigned. He said he is not resigning from the Tamaqua school board.

His term on the school board is set to expire in 2019.

SafeSport Center

In a response to an inquiry concerning the investigation, the SafeSport Center sent the following statement:

“The purpose of the center is to provide a professional, responsive and confidential place for individuals to report sexual abuse. To protect those individuals who report, as well as the integrity of the investigative process, we do not speak about individual matters or cases.”

Hill said SafeSport has jurisdiction over those within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movements. The U.S. Center for SafeSport has the exclusive authority to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movements, including the 49 national governing bodies.

“U.S. Rowing is one of them,” Hill said. “All of them have to abide by the SafeSport code, and we have authority over sexual misconduct within those entities.”

Hill added, “Coaches, anyone within the facility, even certain types of staff, like personal trainers, doctors, there’s a lot of different people who could be considered a covered individual within.”

“But you absolutely do not have to be on the Olympic team to be a covered individual, you just have to be part of a U.S. Olympic or Paralympic movement or organization,” he said. “The mission is to protect athletes from all forms of abuse, and so we can only work within the jurisdiction that we have at the center, but to the maximum extent we can use that jurisdiction to protect athletes, we’ll do it.”

The center said findings would be posted on the website at https://safesport.org/userviolations/search.

The record search function shows Wittig was issued an interim suspension in February.

According to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an interim suspension is an indication that the matter is not yet final.

Wittig said, “They will investigate the allegations based on the recommendations of their two lawyers.”

“It was supposed to be confidential until the end of the investigation. Apparently some of my fan club in the Tamaqua area got wind of it and decided to make hay of it to imply that I’m under investigation for whatever,” he said. “I was never accused of anything other than infidelity.”

Why investigate

Investigations are launched if a situation is noticed or a complaint is received by the organization. Neither criminal nor civil statutes of limitations apply to the code or its procedures.

Wittig said, “I will have my chance, along with my attorneys, to let SafeSport know what truly did happen 38 years ago, not what has been tried in the media.”

“What would happen if Safe-Sport came out and said you acted inappropriately based on our current guidelines and therefore, you are no longer a member of Vesper Boat Club, that would be the absolute worst that they could do, and I would go on rowing for another club,” he said. “The best scenario is that they evaluate my testimony along with everybody else and say it was a different time, it did not cross the line with regard to SafeSport.”

Wittig added, “And neither one of them will affect my duties or my ability to serve on the school board. It’s just one more thing for my fan club to say, ‘Isn’t this outrageous,’ when they really don’t know what they are talking about.”

He also said he has his Act 34 clearance to work with children. “I got all my clearances as a result of having a co-op student work for me, so I got federal, state, I’m clear to go, and I would just wonder if my accusators would be able to pass the same clearances that I already have,” Wittig said.

Results

At any point before a matter is final through these procedures or arbitration, interim measures may be appropriate to ensure the safety or well-being of the reporting party, athletes other nonathlete participants or the responding party.

Interim measures may also be appropriate where an allegation against the responding party is sufficiently serious that the responding party’s continued participation could be detrimental to sport or its reputation.

In emergency circumstances, a covered individual may be removed to address a threat, the center said. Interim measures may include altering training schedules, providing chaperons, implementing contact limitations between the parties and suspensions.